


Keep the Faith

by neonsunrise (pointedragon)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Coda, Gen, General Uncertainty, Hopeful Ending, Post-Episode: s15e18 Despair, written before 15x19 came out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:55:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27503407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pointedragon/pseuds/neonsunrise
Summary: The aftermath of 15x18.(Written before 15x19 aired.)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 37





	Keep the Faith

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you Julie for the beta!
> 
> Edit: Now translated into Russian, courtesy of Olga! https://ficbook.net/readfic/10117216

The fear is all-encompassing.

Jack is trembling, and Sam doesn’t know how to comfort him. He can barely hold himself together. His stomach plunged to his toes the moment Eileen’s text never came in, and it’s stayed there; there’s a big, black chasm opening in his chest, and watching a room full of most of their closest friends vanish into thin air only widened his despair.

And Jack – Jack looks so broken.

Sam wishes he could tell him that there’s a chance everyone else in the world is still alive, but as he dials Dean for the third time, he knows he can’t. Not after watching Donna die with the rest of them. Even when it’s what Jack needs to hear most, Sam can’t bring himself to lie to the kid.

And Dean – Dean won’t pick up, dammit. Sam’s hands are shaking. A horrible thought occurred to him the first time Dean’s cell went to voicemail, that Chuck got to him and Cas and killed them too. Sam won’t let himself think about that. He _can’t,_ not right now. Not when Jack needs him.

He can’t do this without Dean. Hell, he could barely do it _with_ him.

Sam sniffs and physically pulls himself together, straightening up.

“Okay Jack, let’s go home.”

Jack’s staring mutely at his hands, eyes terrified and confused. He drifts after Sam when he starts leading them away from the silo, through the maze of abandoned vehicles the other hunters had driven here. Back in the car, Sam runs a hand down his face and tries to look brave.

“Why don’t you call Cas, see if he picks up?” he suggests. Jack doesn’t look at him, but he pulls out his phone. Sam drives away from the silo, half of his attention on the road and half on the sound of the dial tone from Jack’s phone.

Not even Castiel’s quirky voicemail brings a smile to Sam’s face, because of what it might mean.

He and Jack may be the only two human beings left alive in the entire universe.

The drive is silent, for a while, until they reach a more well-traveled road, and see the first crashed car – empty of its driver.

Sam can see Jack staring back at it in the side mirror, even long after they’ve passed the wreckage. He wants to tell Jack not to look, but it’s too late.

Jack’s not a kid anymore. He knows exactly what Sam knows: they’re all gone. Chuck killed them all.

 _Not Dean,_ Sam reminds himself. _Not Cas._

At least, he hopes. He presses the gas pedal to the floor. It’s not like there’s anyone around to give him a speeding ticket.

***

The bunker is worryingly silent. Sam can feel his heartbeat in every part of his body, his head spinning with the ever-growing fear.

Jack is staring blankly at the wall, so Sam sits him in a chair in the library before he leaves the room on shaking limbs, clinging to his last shred of hope that Dean, Castiel, _someone_ else is still alive.

He turns a corner and passes an odd scrape gouged into the brick wall at shoulder height. That wasn’t there before. Sam’s heartbeat races, and his steps quicken as he heads down the hallway.

Then he hears it, and he freezes.

Somewhere close, someone is crying.

Moving quietly now, Sam pauses at the entrance to the dungeon. The door is wide open, which is unusual in its own right. There’s blood splattered on the floor in places. From the doorway, Sam can’t see anyone, but the sound of crying is louder.

He doesn’t bother drawing his gun before he crosses the threshold. It wouldn’t do anything against Chuck – or Death – anyway.

When he first catches sight of Dean, the fear in his chest balloons into something sharp and biting.

Sam has seen Dean in moments of weakness; he’s seen him lose hope. But even in those times, Dean kept a veneer of calm carefully in place – he kept that last inch of sanity in check so that Sam had something to latch onto. Sam knows that when Dean truly shatters, he shuts himself away somewhere far away from Sam, where no one can find him, where no one can see him weak.

Sam has never seen Dean utterly broken.

Dean is breathing harshly, his face hidden in his hands, his body curled in on itself against the wall. There is a bloody handprint on his shoulder, horrifyingly reminiscent of the one burned into his skin eleven years ago, and Sam instantly knows Castiel is gone.

Winchesters have always tended to their grief alone, but Sam can’t let that happen this time. He, Dean, and Jack are now the only humans alive, and they need to see all this through together.

Sam crosses the room and slides to the ground next to Dean.

Dean doesn’t look up and his shoulders don’t stop shaking with barely-audible sobs. He doesn’t acknowledge Sam’s presence at all, but Sam is comforted just being beside him. Here, in this moment, with no one left but themselves to protect, he finally lets the wave of grief about Eileen wash over him.

His tears are silent, unlike Dean’s. He stares at a point until his vision is too watery to focus and tries to remember how happy he felt when Eileen was first resurrected. He tries to tell himself that she’s in a better place now, but he can’t. For all they know, Heaven is gone, Hell is gone, and Chuck wiped everyone they knew and loved from existence.

Jack finds them sometime later, a horrifying, hollow look in his eyes. He opts to sit across the room from them, staring down at his hands, but Sam sees him shaking minutely.

Chuck may have been right about one thing: they’re all broken. But that doesn’t mean they’re out of the game yet. Sam believes they’ll find a way – they always do.

Or at least, he’s trying to believe.

He has to.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope everyone is doing all right. <3


End file.
